The World Moves South and East
EDITORIAL, 28 Jul 2025
#909 | Prof. Johan Galtung - TRANSCEND Media Service
With the US Empire collapsing, parts of the West de-developing, the state system yielding to a region system with Latin America, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation-OIC and East Asia as new regions–maybe also a Russian Union with autonomy for Chechnya like for the Netherlands in the EU-European Union–the world center of gravity is, indeed, on the move.
Economism has a narrow focus: growth rates, God=Mammon. However, what does the move mean for civilization, religion, the deeper God? Please join me in a spiritual West-South-East move. We know the landscapes: the abrahamic religions (judaism-christianity-islam) in the Occident, the hindu conglomerate in the middle, and the buddhist space spanning the Orient, as buddhism alone or with daoism and confucianism in East Asia. What are some key messages?
Religions, worldviews, are at our hearts and minds. Huge depositories of the human experiences, religions are mixes of jewels of wisdom and the mud of negativism, reflecting traumas and glories at the hands of, or at the expense of, others. We drop the latter. Nobody shall tell us that we cannot search for, and select, the jewels, but have to accept the whole package by faith. The jewels are the truths, the tools, that speak to us, lift us, take us closer to something above ourselves. The mud divides us, like doctrines of chosenness above others, of promised lands excluding others, of exceptionalism above the law for ordinary humans and lands. We leave it behind, for quick oblivion.
And nobody shall tell us we cannot eclect equally boldly, put rubies, diamonds and sapphires together in new ways, learning from the dialogues, going beyond, regionalizing, globalizing god.
I—a humanist with buddhist spots–have my jewels collection, fruits of countless dialogues around the world. I want to share it with you, and invite you to the same. Here is what I found:
From judaism: that truth is not a declaration of faith, but a process, a dialogue with no end, like in the Talmud, not torah.
From orthodox christianity: the optimism of Sunday Christianity as opposed to the necrophiliac Friday Christianities of the other two: Christ has risen, He is among us.
From catholic christianity: the distinction between peccato and peccatore, between sin and sinners, taking a stand against the sin, yet pardoning, forgiving the sinner who does the same.
From protestant christianity: the lutheran hier stehe ich, ich kann nicht anders, here I am, I have no alternative; the significance of individual conscience and responsibility; and equality in the face of the Creator.
From islam: the truth of Sura 8:61, that when the Other shows an inclination toward peace so do you; peace breeds peace. And the truth of zakat, of sharing with the poor. And the truth of islam-sala’am, joint submission, to the cause of peace, togetherness.
From hinduism: the trinitarian construction of the world, as Creation, Preservation and Destruction, which applied to conflict means to pursue Creation by seeing conflict as a challenge to be creative, with Preservation of the parties, and Destruction of whatever generates the violence; unsolved conflict, hatred, habit.
From buddhism-jainism: nonviolence, ahimsa to all life, to the whole earth, not only the human part and the earth-human interface. And as a part of this what in Japanese buddhism is known as engi, that everything hangs together in codependent origination, no beginning, no end; nobody is totally guilty or totally innocent, we all share responsibility in reducing dukkha-suffering and increasing sukha-fulfillment, with liberation for all, ourselves. The tetralemma, A, B, A&B, -A&-B: either, or, both-and, and neither-nor; not only the dilemma either-or.
From confucianism: the principle of isomorphic harmony; inside ourselves-inner peace, in the family, at school, at work, harmony in society, the country, the nation, the region, world harmony among civilizations; with all levels inspiring each other.
From daoism: the principle of yin-yang, the good in the bad and the bad in the good, and the bad in the good in the bad and the good in the bad in the good, and so on; a complexity far beyond Western dualism. And “Share in the suffering of others; delight at the joy of others.–View the good fortune of others as your good fortune. View the losses of others as your own loss”.
From humanism: the idea of basic human needs, to some extent reflected in the basic human rights as an ethical guideline.
So we move south, and east. We move away from the individualist consumerism into muslim we-ness and sharing. And from the muslim claim on the only truth valid for all forever, into the philosophy of ever changing reality. And we move on from a hopeless caste system resisting destruction, into the daoist-buddhist richness and the harmony of confucianism; from hopeless peace ideas, theories like “balance of power”, or “become Western”, to mutual and equal benefit. Guided by human basic needs and rights.
The dualism good vs. evil-God vs. Satan, seductive, dangerous, yields to the sophistication of ambiguity; the yin/yang of contradictions. We add to either-or the richness of neither-nor, and both-and. Conflicts looking unsolvable suddenly open up; the uncombinable can be combined. We leave behind the idea of an Armageddon, a final battle with enemies beyond redemption, out to do evil, in favor of the joint search for world harmony. And we are rich.
Our jewels are many and diverse. We move from the sickening idea of one civilization being universal to a multipolar world in dialogue. And we can globalize and evolve by choosing the best.
Dialogue of Civilizations, Rhodes Forum, Greece, 7 October 2011
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Originally Posted on 17 Oct 2011 – #186
Johan Galtung (24 Oct 1930 – 17 Feb 2024), a professor of peace studies, dr hc mult, was the founder of TRANSCEND International, TRANSCEND Media Service, and rector of TRANSCEND Peace University. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize numerous times and was awarded among others the 1987 Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative NPP. Galtung has mediated in over 150 conflicts in more than 150 countries, and written more than 170 books on peace and related issues, 96 as the sole author. More than 40 have been translated to other languages, including 50 Years-100 Peace and Conflict Perspectives published by TRANSCEND University Press. His book, Transcend and Transform, was translated to 25 languages. He has published more than 1700 articles and book chapters and over 500 Editorials for TRANSCEND Media Service. More information about Prof. Galtung and all of his publications can be found at transcend.org/galtung
Tags: BRICS, China, Global South, Religion, Russia, Southeast Asia, Spirituality, US empire, USA
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Integrated Science and Religion for Peace
King Ashoka cut into the rock and he said, “Do not quarrel about religions, concord is meritorious. Do not imagine that you have a complete hold on truth. You may not have it; no religion has a monopoly of Truth; you must try to know the God above all gods who is expressed in different ways and different individuals.”
Ashoka desired that all religions should co-exist at all places and increase in their inner strength. He hoped that the followers of all religions would learn much from each other and follow the auspicious path. Ashoka enjoined on all his subjects the duty of mutually respecting each other’s religion, for this only, he said, ‘one can increase, or spread one’s religion and help others’ religions. He who reverences his own religion, and disparages others’, destroys his own religion.’ (Edicts of Ashoka)
Followers of one religion are not superior to people from other religion. Knowledge and learning about others’ religions only can make people to be tolerant towards each other that can lead them to live in peace and harmony. Everybody should have the religious freedom.
Albert Einstein rightly observed, “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” Here we may explain this by narrating a story. There was a big fire in a village. All able persons saved their lives by leaving the village for the safe places except two disabled lame and blind. However, lame and blind also succeeded to save their lives by taking the help of each other as the lame sitting on the shoulders of blind. Hence science and religion both are essential for peace. Bhagawad Gita rightly proclaims, “There is peace and prosperity on the earth for those who will learn and follow the laws of inner and outer life.”
Integrated Science and Religion for Peace
SCIENCE – SPIRITUALITY, 1 Aug 2016
By Surya Nath Prasad, Ph. D. – TRANSCEND Media Service https://www.transcend.org/tms/2016/08/integrated-science-and-reli
Science and Religion and Peace
Edited by Surya Nath Prasad & Suman Shukla
Foreword by Prof. Johan Galtung, Pioneer of Peace studies
Published by IAEWP – A UN Peace Messenger, 2002